Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 earthquake hits southern Xinjiang, China.
5.2 earthquake hits south of the Kermedec Islands.
5.1 earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.
5.0 earthquake hits Seram, Indonesia.
Wildfires
Australia fires damaged ozone layer – caused major warming
Australia’s fire season in late 2019 and early 2020 was extreme. It blew smoke some 20 miles into the sky, not unlike what a nuclear blast might cause. Smoke from the fires circled the globe and hovered in plumes over the Pacific.
Now, a study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports suggests the smoky aerosols caused the highest temperatures in the stratosphere in about three decades and probably damaged the ozone layer — which has been slowly recovering since the substances that deplete it were largely phased out through the 1987 Montreal Protocol.
Volcanos
Hawaii
Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, is erupting for the first time in nearly 40 years.
Dozens of earthquakes — one of them a magnitude 4.2 quake — have swarmed the region after the volcano’s Moku’āweoweo summit caldera erupted on Sunday (Nov. 27) night. Officials have issued an ashfall advisory for Hawaii’s Big Island and residents have been asked to remain vigilant. So far the eruption’s lava flows pose no risk to people living downhill from the eruption and air travel is currently unaffected.
Disease
Covid-19
The countries with the 10 greatest number of Covid-19 cases:
Cholera – Kenya
The Kenya Ministry of Health announced a multicounty cholera outbreak on October 19. The first cases of Vibrio cholerae -01 Ogawa serotype were detected following a wedding festival that was held in Limuru sub-county, Kiambu County October 8, 2022. As of 13 November 2022, a total of 568 cases with 281 confirmed (48 cases by culture and 233 by rapid diagnostic test) and 15 deaths (CFR = 2.6%), have been reported so far. This is the second cholera outbreak to be declared in almost one month this year for Kenya.
Ebola – Uganda
Uganda health officials reported today an additional Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) case and death, the first in eleven days.